The Serpent's Second Chance
by PrincessDaydream77
Summary: Soon after graduating from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Draco Malfoy settled down to marry and have children. However, his marriage was not destined to last, and divorce followed a while after. So, when four young bombshells arrived on the doorstep of Malfoy Manor half a dozen years later, could Draco take his second chance?
1. The Ring of Change

The Serpent's Second Chance

Summary: Soon after graduating from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Draco Malfoy settled down to marry and have children. However, his marriage was not destined to last, and divorce followed a while after. So, when four young bombshells arrived on the doorstep of Malfoy Manor half a dozen years later, could Draco take his second chance?

Disclaimer: Lissy and the kids belong to me. Everything else, to Rowling.

Chapter One

Deep within the heart of Wiltshire, at the vast ancestral home of the Malfoy family, a silver key slid into the lock of the huge front door and turned. The ancient mahogany swung open slowly on its hinges, as the pale, pointed face of Draco Malfoy came into view from behind it. The man made very little noise as he entered his home, the soft click of the heavy wood closing the only sound audible in the manor's entrance hall.

He kept up the silence until he reached the solitude of his private study, at the far end of the third floor staircase. As on any other day, a fire was lit and roaring in its grate, and the _Evening Prophet_ lay creaseless on his desk, beside a plate of his favourite shortbread biscuits. Whether the gestures were by the elves or by his mother, though he suspected the latter, he was grateful for them. Relaxing back into the soft black leather of his chair with a contented sigh, Draco lifted the periodical from the desk and began to read.

He had only reached the midpoint of an article on the fifth page, regarding the Holyhead Harpies winning the league for the first time in two decades, when the distant ringing of the front doorbell reached his ears.

'_Who on earth could that be?_' thought Draco, glancing briefly down at his silver wristwatch. True, it was a Muggle contraption, but some things could overcome the remaining prejudices in the world just by sheer usefullness. The emerald-studded hands read just gone eight o'clock. '_It's late, and Mother didn't mention anything about visitors._'

Nevertheless, the ringing persisted. Sighing reluctantly, Draco got up from his chair, laying the _Prophet_ half folded on the desk, the Harpies smiling and waving only at the varnished wood.

The man took his time descending the endless flights of stone steps, despite the fact that the ringing was now sounding so loudly and persistantly that he was unsure as to whether it was still there, or merely his tired mind playing tricks.

"Alright, alright!" he exclaimed under his breath, barely managing to keep his voice down. Whoever the mystery caller was, they were already trying the Malfoy heir's patience. Waving his wand to remove the ward on the door, Draco turned the aged key in the lock, clasped his hand around the polished silver handle and, with a little effort, pulled it fully open. However, as he caught sight of the people standing on the doorstep, his mouth dropped wide open, all words of annoyance drying in his throat.

Standing before him were five people, a woman and four children, two boys and two girls. If he hadn't known any better, Draco truly would have assumed that the eldest boy had not been closely related to any but the youngest girl, due to the blonde hair atop his head, a stark contrast to the brunette hair of his other two siblings, and of his mother, who Draco was still staring straight at.

"Lissy." Draco breathed, willing his bone dry throat to allow him to speak properly, while simultaneously willing his brain to allow him to think.

"Hello, Draco." the woman returned, her left eyebrow slightly raised at the blonde's poor composure. Quickly smoothing down his hair a little, the man turned to the group of children, his throat suddenly even drier than before. His mouth opened and closed several times, but still no words emerged from it. Instead, the elder girl spoke with venom the words that Draco had dreaded hearing for six and a half long years.

"Hello, Dad."

A/N: So there you go! By the way, to the people who regularly read my other stories (and if you haven't, please check them out), I am only able to put this story up because I started it after my USB broke. It still hasn't been fixed, but I'm working on it. I put this up because I didn't want to leave you totally abandoned when I had an idea I could write. Please review!


	2. Hello and Goodbye

Chapter Two

A/N: Thanks to dream-on-sunday for reviewing.

Draco stood aghast for the next half minute at least, glancing from child to child, before he spoke, turning to the woman once more, who had been staring straight at him the whole time.

"Lissy, what are you doing here? You can't just turn up when you feel like it, especially not with them." Draco exclaimed, the anger in his tone of voice rising with every other word he spoke, reaching a crescendo by the last one.

"They _are_ your children as well, Draco. That doesn't change just because we're divorced!" Elisabetta cried, gesturing towards the children stood beside her, three of which were looking away from the man, while the youngest looked towards him in confused interest through curtains of messy golden hair.

"Then you should've thought of that earlier in the last six and a half years that you haven't let me see the three of them!" Draco yelled, instantly feeling a slight pang of guilt as the children flinched in front of him.

"Four of them." the elder girl commented under her breath, having recovered quickly from the shock, though Draco could not actually hear her past the sound of his own agitated breathing.

"Well, they're here now! I don't have a Time-Turner, Draco, because if I did, I would've changed what I've done! But I can't. So, I'm trying to make up for it now. If you'll let me." Elisabetta finished quietly, a single tear streaking down her face. Draco, however, knowing her better, did not give in.

"What do you want, Lissy?" he asked again.

"What do I _want_?" she repeated slowly, wiping the tear from her face and tilting her head slightly to the side.

"I know you, Elisabetta Selwyn, and you always want something. You're a born and bred Slytherin, that's just how we are." Draco commented immediately, causing Lissy's head to right itself and her hand to rise slowly to her hip. With a slight sigh, she acquiesced to his question.

"I've got a new job at the Ministry." Lissy sighed, pausing to gauge her ex-husband's reaction to the reveal. When he inclined his head to her, she continued. "In the United States."

"What?!" Draco exclaimed, his eyes widening dramatically, almost comically if the situation hadn't been so serious.

"Well, I'm the new ambassador for them, in the Washington office." she explained to him, in a calm, quiet voice.

"But… what about the kids?" Draco stuttered, his throat drying out once more as he suddenly saw where this conversation was going to end.

"I need to get myself settled before I take them with me. Actually, that's why I'm here, really." This statement caused Draco to narrow his eyes once again, having to resist the temptation to outwardly wince at it. Breathing slightly more heavily under the man's intense gaze, the eldest brunette swallowed slightly, before saying what she had come to say.

"Well, I can't take the children with me for another… six months at least. They need somewhere to stay for that time, they can't stay on their own. So, I thought…"

"What?" Draco asked hurriedly, already fearful of the answer that he knew was coming.

"I thought that you could take your turn." she finished, her voice a little more confident than it had been as she finally completed her request.

Draco stood aghast for just a moment, before beginning his retort. Unfortunately for him, it was just a moment too long, as Lissy had taken the opportunity to begin making her way towards the wrought iron gates, bidding a final farewell to the children as she walked.

"Lissy? Lissy, you can't do this! You can't! Lissy, come… back." sighed Draco, realising upon the final word that the woman had already Disapparated. "Oh, great."

Suddenly, remembering something rather important, the blonde man turned to the group.

"Um…" Draco began, uncharacteristically nervous, but was cut off instantly by his elder son.

"It's fine, Dad, don't start. We all know you don't want us here, so what's the use in pretending you do?" the boy stated, leaving no room for questioning. Draco was about to try and respond nevertheless, but the moment passed when footsteps sounded on the staircase behind him, where the two other occupants of Malfoy Manor were standing, clear confusion on their faces.

"What is all this commotion?!" exclaimed Lucius Malfoy, leaning slightly on the mahogany banister of the staircase as he descended it, his wife just a step or two behind him. He stopped right in his tracks as he caught sight of the children on the doorstep.

"Draco?" Narcissa began, her forehead slightly creased with confusion. She stopped just as her husband had, she once she too had caught sight of the group. "What is going on down here? Draco, what has happened?"

"Elisabetta Selwyn happened." Draco sighed, tiredly ushering the boys and girls into the entrance hall, while his own parents shared a glance that had been practiced to mean '_Here we go_'. Only once the doors were fully closed did Draco finally let his grievances be known, as if he had been concealing them from the outside world. "Who does she think she is?! She can't just prevent me from seeing my children for six and a half years, then turn up in the middle of the night and leave them on my doorstep. Three of them, anyway, one of them isn't even mine!"

"Yes, she is!" the older girl exclaimed, catching the attention of the three eldest Malfoys as she wrapped her arm around her sister.

"She is what, sweetheart?" Narcissa asked, stepping forward just a little closer to her eldest granddaughter.

"I've been trying to tell you all evening, you just weren't listening to me. Nothing changes around here, you never do. Anyway, like I said, she is Dad's daughter." the girl responded, a slight smirk on her face as she spoke, one which was shared by her two brothers, though most certainly not by their father.

"What?"

A/N: Please review!


	3. Phoebe

Chapter Three

A/N: Thanks again to dream-on-sunday for reviewing.

Silence still remained in the room a few minutes later, as everyone in the room stared at the girl.

"Could you please… explain a little, sweetheart?" Narcissa asked, finally cutting through the atmosphere, much to everyone's relief.

"There aren't just three of us, Grandma, there's four. Rigel, me, Asterion and Phoebe." the girl said slowly, the look on her face suggesting that it was rather simple to understand.

"Capella Malfoy, I think I need a little more explanation than that." Draco sighed, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Well…" Capella began, pausing to ensure her father was listening. She needn't have bothered, as Draco was hanging on her every word. "You and Mum started rowing, about seven years ago, yeah?"

"Yeah." Draco answered quickly, desperate for his daughter to continue with her explanation.

"Well, six months later, you and Mum split up. You divorced and she moved out, taking the three of us with her. Except there weren't just three of us." Capella stopped when a gasp came from in front of her. Narcissa now had her hand held over her mouth, though she moved to speak.

"She was pregnant when she left." the matriarch breathed, at last giving her son the explanation he had needed from his daughter. As soon as he had heard though, he was not as overjoyed as anyone might have expected.

His first response to the news was to walk up the stairs once more, collapsing into a chair in the drawing room. The remainder of the family followed him soon, watching him nervously as he placed his head in his hands.

"How did this happen?" the man asked himself quietly. Unfortunately, not quite quietly enough, as his father heard the question and saw fit to give his son an answer to it.

"Well, Draco, you see that when a man and a woman are deeply in love, they see fit to prove this love by-"

"I know how it happened, Father! I just don't believe it." Draco exclaimed, returning his head to his hands as soon as he had spoken. Silence fell once again, only intercepted by the quiet sound of Draco's tearful breaths.

"Draco?" Narcissa asked gently, a stab of pain targeting her heart at her son's sadness. "Draco, it's alright. They're here now, after all. They're here with you, all of them. What kind of a welcome are you giving your little girl right now?"

That phrase prompted Draco to raise his head, realising that his mother spoke the truth. He shifted his gaze around the room several times, before it came to rest on the shivering young girl standing half behind her sister. The man stood from his chair, bringing a smile to his mother's face as he approached the young girl, bending down on one knee in front of her.

"Hello… Phoebe." Draco greeted the child, taking a moment to draw her name from his memory of Capella's explanation. Still, the little girl cowered behind the elder.

"She doesn't like strangers, Dad, and, like it or not, that's what you are to her." the brunette told him, bringing the child forward to wrap her arms around her.

"Well, maybe I was before, but I'm not anymore. I am her father, Ellie, I am yours, Rigel's and Asterion's. You are all my children, and I love you all. So, if you're going to stay here, you're going to have to get used to me. Alright?"

"Whatever." Rigel answered the man, pushing past him and ascending the stairs. Just a moment later, Capella did the same, as did Asterion. Then only Phoebe remained.

The group of adults paused, unsure of what they should do. Phoebe was the only one they could not deal with, as they did not know her in the least. They hadn't even known of her until that very night. How could they hope to make her feel comfortable in a strange house, with a family she had never known herself? It was hopeless. Still, they had to try.

"Phoebe?" Narcissa questioned gently, smiling in a comforting way as the girl turned towards her. "Would you like to come with me? We'll get your things unpacked, get you a cup of hot chocolate and settle you into bed. Does that sound nice?"

Though the only response she received was a small nod of the head, Draco was still amazed that his mother had managed to get any response from his quiet young daughter at all. Perhaps he should not have been so surprised, as the woman had always had a skill in comforting children, which he knew as she had stemmed his flows of tears many a time when he was younger.

"Good. Come with me, then." Narcissa beckoned to Phoebe, taking the small girl's hand and gently coaxing her along up the staircase.

This left Draco and his father alone. The pair remained silent for a couple of minutes, sharing a glance every so often. The quiet was quite unnerving, when the only sound to be heard was the wind outside.

"Father…" Draco began, breaking the silence to address the man. "Do you think I'll be able to cope? Do you think that I'll be a good enough father?"

Lucius paused before answering, his mouth opening and closing a few times as he considered what to say. When he finally did respond, Draco was completely focused on what he had to say.

"Draco, I'm not the best person to ask about parenthood. I was never the best father to you, that I'll admit, and that it is one of the things I most regret in my life. But from what I've seen, the qualities that you've inherited from your mother, and the sparse good ones from me, you will care for those children with all that you have. And if you do, then they couldn't ask for more."

Despite all the fears he had about raising his children alone, Draco couldn't help but feel that, if his own father felt that he could do it, then maybe there was hope for him as a father after all.

A/N: Please review this. I tried really hard.


	4. Unanswered Questions

Chapter Four

A/N: Thanks to my great reviewers, Guest, BunnyBear27, and .

The next morning, Draco awoke without a single care. His head was a little heavy on his shoulders, as he remembered that he had not gotten to bed until well after midnight, but at least the fact that it was a Saturday allowed him to relax for just a little longer.

However, it only took a moment for the pleasant haze of sleep to fade away, giving the man a very clear reason why he had felt so strange when he had wakened. Or, to be more accurate, the four reasons.

Suddenly, all memories of the previous night came flooding back to him. The ring of the doorbell, the argument with Lissy, the four children stood awkwardly on the doorstep. For once in his life, Draco wished he really could have forgotten the events.

With a sigh akin to one of a wronged man, the blonde rose from his bed, stretching his arms out wide and taking a huge gulp of air, attempting to prepare himself for the challenge ahead.

Upon entering the dining room, Draco near despaired to see that his parents were absent from the table, leaving him alone with the four children. To say that the atmosphere was tense would be a gross underestimation.

"Good morning." Draco said, moving down to his regular place to the right of the head, where his father would usually sit. Though he was still quite cautious of the children, he had to admit he was impressed that they had sat themselves in the correct places at the table, Rigel to his right, Asterion to his, Capella opposite Rigel and Phoebe next to her. For children who had never lived in a traditional Pureblood household, it was impressive, he would give them that.

None of the four responded to his greeting, and they all gave little notice when he tried to make polite conversation. It was obvious that it would be more difficult than he had anticipated, getting them to see him as a father once again, even for the first time, in the case of the small girl with a teddy bear on her lap.

"Did you all… sleep alright, last night? Well, this morning." he asked, his voice trembling once again, as it always seemed to do when he spoke to the children. They all seemed to have that effect on them, particularly Phoebe, as she was as good as a stranger to him.

"Dad, you don't have to keep trying. We know you hate us." Rigel stated. It was the second time the boy had done so in less than twelve hours. '_No, not boy_.' Draco reminded himself, with a slight sigh. '_That phase is long gone_.'

In any case, the boy's attitude was terrible, and as his father, whether he liked that fact or not, the Malfoy heir was not about to let him get away with it.

"Rigel, that is enough! I am sick and tired of your attitude. I am your father, and you will show me some respect!" Draco responded, his voice rising in tone with each word he spoke, as if his pent up rage was finally escaping in the words.

"Father?! You're no father to us! You walked out on me when I was ten years old, Ellie was nine, and Aston was only seven. Fi wasn't even born, for Merlin's sake! You didn't even know she existed! If you're a father to us, then tell me. What position do I play in Quidditch? What subject did Ellie get an O in last term? What Chocolate Frog Card does Aston need to finish the Founders set? What's Fi's favourite colour? Don't know? Well, let me tell you this. There are distant family friends we see once in a blue moon that know the answers to all of those questions, and you don't. So, I'm sorry, _Draco_, but you are not a father."

As his huge speech came to a close, Rigel stood, his chair scraping along the wooden floor and falling to the ground as he bolted from the room, leaving only a silent room of shocked people in his wake. The children, or the ones that remained, looked from one to the other along the breakfast table. Even they were shocked by their eldest brother's behaviour, though they had grown up in the same house as him, and knew very well how over reactive he could be.

"Don't worry. Rige is always like this. He'll never accept that people have changed." Capella commented, casting a sympathetic glance in the direction of her father, who smiled gratefully at the fifteen year old.

"Does that include me?" he couldn't help but question, wanting to see if he had at all made a difference of the past twelve hours.

"I don't know. I don't really know if you've changed yet, so I can't tell." the brunette responded, twisting a lock of her hair around her finger. That raised another topic to Draco's mind.

"What have you done to your hair? And you, Aston?" the man asked the two, looking from one to the other.

"We dyed it. We didn't want to be associated with you, either of us. I'm surprised Rige didn't do it as well, to be honest. He hated you more than both of us put together. And I don't blame him." Once Aston had finished speaking, the first time Draco had heard him do so since he had returned, the boy stood from his chair, exiting the room with Capella not far behind, pulling Phoebe forcefully from her chair so that the girl was not left alone with the man.

When he was finally left on his own, Draco let out an enormous sigh. In truth, the meal had gone a lot more smoothly than he had expected it to do, leaving the blonde wondering what exactly he may have been expecting. A sudden voice from the door brought him away from his thoughts once again.

"It didn't go well, then?" asked the voice. Draco knew there was a smirk on the figure's face, without even needing to glance around to see.

"No, Father, it didn't. I think I have a lot of work to do."

A/N: And it almost worked! Poor Draco, being rejected so much. But still, he may make progress with one of the children in the next chapter. Guess which one it'll be. Review!


	5. Comparisons

Chapter Five

A/N: Thanks for reviewing, .

With an amazing swiftness, a week had passed, meaning that it was finally time for Rigel, Capella and Asterion to return to Hogwarts, and although this was a true relief for Draco, as it left him with three less obstacles to face, it left him with a far worse problem. Phoebe.

At the age of only five years old, the blonde was far too young to attend the school with her siblings, and so she would be left alone in the manor, with only her father and grandparents for company. The only problem in this was that she still would not talk to any of them.

It was very strange for Draco, to live alongside a child who would not speak. When he had been five years old, it took just as much effort to make him be quiet as it would to get Phoebe to say even a word. That seemed to be ominous for the man, as he was unsure if this feat was one he could accomplish without the presence of his other children. Still, for the sake of his family, he was willing to try.

As the clock struck twelve that day, lunch was served in the household, where the four remaining Malfoys sat at the mahogany dinner table. Unlike the previous table they had had, which had been thrown away, due to the unhappy memories it held for the three eldest, the table had only space for ten to sit at it, perhaps twelve at most. This meant that it was a lot more difficult for the family to sit apart, meaning that Phoebe was forced to sit close to her father.

"Are you alright, darling?" Narcissa asked the girl, after a few minutes of utter silence on her part. The only response she was met with was a nod, which was still quite an achievement, considering the nature of the girl. Following the example of the elder woman, Draco piped up, speaking directly to his daughter for what was only the second time in her short life.

"Would you like a piece of cake, Phoebe?" he asked, causing the girl to raise her head from her empty plate, looking him straight in the eye.

For a moment, there was no response. The young blonde remained silent, as did her elders, none of them wanting to make the first move. Then, after about thirty seconds of tense silence, Phoebe moved her head, a smile appearing on her face as she nodded to the man.

Feeling almost lightheaded with his achievement, Draco exited the room, returning just a minute later with a slice of lemon cake, dusted with icing sugar, which he served to the girl with a flourish, drawing a quiet laugh from her throat. She paused in her laughter when she looked down at the cake, which had been served on a plate coloured with silver flowers on a celeste background. She picked up her dessert fork and pulled a little at the slice, as if she were examining its contents.

When she finished with her examination, the girl took a small amount of the sponge on her fork, lifting it to her mouth. The tension between the other three at that moment was unbelievable, and the atmosphere was only lifted when a huge smile illuminated her features. '_It seems that I've finally done something right.'_ thought Draco, smiling along with her.

As the girl continued to eat the dessert, the young man shared a glance with his mother and father, both of whom were smiling, though Narcissa quite a bit more, by force of habit on both of their parts.

"Well done, darling." she whispered, so quietly that only her son and husband could hear, as Phoebe was not really listening to her grandmother at the time, something that was rather obvious, as she was focusing so intently on the plate that had been left behind, long after the small slice of cake had passed her lips.

"Thank you." Draco whispered in return, though he did not look at his mother while he spoke to her. He had been staring in the direction of his young daughter, as he was only now noticing just how pretty the child was, and just how beautiful she would grow up to be. '_Just as beautiful as her mother, if we are all lucky about it.'_ he thought, before he had a chance to prevent himself from doing so.

Instantly, Draco began to question himself, and not for the first time in the past week. '_Why am I comparing my child to her mother, when I divorced from the woman all those years ago, because we did not get on any more? My marriage failed and fell apart. Bringing up the past will not help to fix that, it will only reopen old wounds. It's time that I move on from Elisabetta Selwyn.'_

And yet he could not. Like it or not, Lissy was a part of Draco's life, and would always be, as she was the mother of his four children, four people who now filled a large space in his heart with their presence. Though they did not seem to reciprocate this feeling, the Malfoy heir loved his children as much as it was possible to do so, and he thought even more than that as well. When the time came to pass them back over to Lissy once again, the man truly did not know what he would do.

When Draco looked up at the table, after a long few moments of staring out of the window, Phoebe and Narcissa had risen from the table and were making their way towards the door. As they left, the man thought he heard something about their going shopping for the day, but was not concentrating on his mother's words. He concentrated only on the smile that his youngest daughter showed him over her shoulder.

Maybe one of his children would accept him now, but only time would tell the truth.

A/N: Please review! Please!


	6. The Storm in the Manor

Chapter Six

A/N:

With another fortnight's rise and fall of the sun, Draco felt that he was truly closer to his daughter, and that, although she had not yet broken her silence, he felt that Phoebe had now accepted him as a father, something she had never known before, as Elisabetta had never moved on to another relationship after their divorce.

In return, Draco was also much happier for knowing that he had another daughter to spoil, as he had felt that there was a part of him that was incomplete until he found her. Now, his heart was complete at last, or as close as it could be, while his other three children still rejected him. However, he had decided that he would rather fully establish his relationship with Phoebe, as with her support and love, the others would more than likely follow, completing the family at last.

The absence of his three elder children was set to last for a little while longer, and Draco was determined to learn as much about the family as he could do before they returned to Malfoy Manor, to broaden his chances of them seeing him as a good father, or at least as a better one than they had seen him as before, though being viewed as such would not really be seen as an accomplishment by anyone's standards, and particularly not his own.

However, as the trio were absent, and would be for a while yet, Draco focused the majority of his attentions on Phoebe, and seeing whether he could strengthen their relationship any further. It was an objective that he had truly wanted to achieve ever since he had discovered she was his daughter, and the fact that she seemed to be a little more comfortable around him than she had been a few weeks before, when she had first met him and hidden behind her elder sister so he could not see her, as if fearful that he was some kind of monster. '_That is probably what Lissy has made me out to be.'_ he mused, seeing it as the only option for her behaviour, other than shyness that had been made extreme, though that seemed the most unlikely option, as she warmed quite quickly to his mother, who Lissy had always liked and had never held anything against.

For the fourth time that week, Draco returned home from his tiring occupation at the Ministry, though this time, he returned in the dead of night, even the stars nearly giving way to the darkness. All the lights within the Manor were extinguished, or as far as the man could see, and he waved his wand to light a lamp in the entrance hall, his wand clattered against the wood of the door as he did so, causing him to let out a string of curses as the resulting spark of magic collided with his kneecap, stinging him almost as a bee would. As he glanced up towards the ornamental lamp once again, to ascertain whether or not it had been successfully lit, Draco near cried out in terror.

At the top of the staircase, there was a figure dressed all in white, small and pale and seeming to glow ethereally in the firelight. It look, at first glance, to have been one of the ghosts that had always haunted the upper floors of Malfoy Manor, as her hair was blonde and her stature small and stately, two notable factors of the family. However, a quick second glance told the man that he had been mistaken.

"Phoebe?" he questioned quietly, having figured out that the young figure was, in fact, his daughter, dressed in her nightgown, and that she appeared to glow purely because she had stood in a shaft of moonlight coming from a window that Draco had long since forgotten was there.

As had always been the case with the child, she did not speak in response, only nodded, to confirm what her father had said. He bit the inside of his lip, so as to try and hide his slight annoyance at this. He had thought that they were growing much closer, that they were familiar enough now that she might speak, but he had evidently been wrong. Still, he ascended the staircase, not wanting his child to be upset, which she must have been to be walking around at that hour.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" he asked, bending down in front of the girl, so that there could be less of a height difference between them. She slowly shook her head. "What's wrong?"

Again, Draco hoped that she would speak, but the child did not, merely indicated to the window with her head. It was only then that the Malfoy heir saw the lightning flashes and heard the roar of the thunder. She was afraid of the storm.

"Storms are nothing to be frightened of, sweetheart." he told the young blonde, stroking her hair lightly to prove his point. "They are just as magical as the sunshine, as you or I. They're just a different kind of magic to the one we know."

Satisfied at this explanation, Phoebe did not hesitate in taking her father's hand, so that he would lead her upstairs. However, she seemed to have been awake for longer than he had thought and grew so tired that, by the time they had reached the second floor, she had slumped onto his side so much that he decided it would be in both of their interests if he carried her the rest of the way.

By the time he had reached her bedroom, Draco was almost certain that his youngest daughter was asleep, and so laid her down gently on the bed, pulling the covers up to wrap around her, and placing her stuffed bear, Emerald, in her arms.

"Good night, my sweetheart." he whispered, as he placed a final kiss on the child's forehead, before turning to leave the room.

However, his hand had not yet touched the silver doorknob when he heard a small voice from the bed. It was so utterly quiet that it could almost not be heard, yet somehow Draco managed to hear it through the crashes of the thunder outside.

"Good night, Daddy."

A/N: Happy ending, there. Please review, and I'll try to get the next update up quicker.


	7. Greetings Failed

Chapter Seven

A/N: No reviewers, unfortunately. Please review, guys, please!

The weeks seemed to fly by, after that stormy night, and before he knew it, the end of the Hogwarts summer term had come, meaning that his family would be completed at last.

However, the return of the trio of elder children might not have been a good thing. Though he loved them all equally, Draco was extremely proud of the bond he had forged with Phoebe, and was well aware that, should her siblings return, she may come to their way of thinking and reject him, as she had always done with their influence around her. She may also convince them of her point of view, but something inside the man knew that this was the less likely of the two options.

He had not gone to Platform Nine and Three Quarters on this occasion, having wished to have a little more time to prepare for what he was going to say to them, and had instead sent his mother to go and meet them, alongside his daughter, who had been waiting for her siblings to come back ever since they had left, as she had never liked being separated from her family. Whether or not she had accepted him as her father, Draco was certain that that fact was not about to change.

When they finally arrived, the man was still not certain that he was prepared for the trio's return, but put his fears to the side, as he had taught himself to do on many occasions. After all, they did nothing but slow his mind, and with the amount of insults and accusations he would have to put up with, that was the last thing he needed.

The creaks of the door as it opened could be heard from his study, and the Malfoy heir stood with them, wincing a little in fearful anticipation as he heard the distinctive voice of his eldest son drift up through the floor, as he could tell that the tone of it was not altogether positive. '_Oh, well.__'_ he thought, reaching for the handle of the door, so that he could face the facts, and his children also. '_I might as well get this over will, sooner rather than later.'_

It took a good three minutes for the young man to reach the family living room, though it should have taken only one at the most, as it was simply one flight of stairs and a corridor away. He opened the door without hesitation, not wanting to give himself any more cause for indecision.

Inside the room, five people sat, each with cups of tea and hot chocolate in hand, chatting away merrily as laughter resounded within the walls. The laughter ceased when he entered the room, and an awkward silence fell between the four children and his mother, who had been the one to escort the group to the room.

"Hello, Phoebe." he greeted, attempting to make a start, and seeing that making contact with his youngest daughter may help his case with the others.

"Hello, Daddy." she returned, in a tiny whisper, as if she were fearful of her siblings thinking badly of her for having made friends with their father, something that they had been attempting to convince her not to do.

"Fifi, what's going on?" Capella questioned her sister, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. She quickly locked eyes with the younger girl, deliberately avoiding glancing in her father's direction, for fear that she would catch his gaze, something that she really did not wish to do. After all, it was embarrassing enough, without any awkwardness being added to the situation.

"Why can't I say hello to my daddy?" she asked, a hint of impertinence in her voice that Draco had recalled came from her mother, a trick that she had often used when trying to get her own way. "I say hello to you, and to Mummy, and to Grandma Narcissa. Why shouldn't I say hello to him?"

"He's no father to us, Fifi." Rigel commented, standing from his position and moving a few paces past the table. For a moment, the blonde haired man thought that the younger was going to his youngest sister, to get closer to her as he tried to convince her of his and their siblings' point of view, but, though he leant on the arm of the chair beside Phoebe, his gaze constantly flitted in the direction of the man he was speaking of. "He forced Mum out of the house, with me, Ellie and Aston, while she was pregnant with you. She hadn't done anything wrong, he just threw her out. For the next six years, he made no contact with us, or with her. He didn't even know you existed, Fi, until we turned up on his doorstep. How can you call him a father?"

"Because I love him." she answered simply, and for just a second, Draco felt as of his heart may burst, both with pride and with the love he felt in return for the little girl. "And I know that you do as well, all three of you. You just won't show it, because Mummy told you a story about why she had to leave. Don't you think we should ask Daddy for his point of view? Because we haven't done until now, and I want to hear it."

Silence. No one spoke for another good few minutes, and the only movement was the flickering of looks and facial expressions across the inhabitants of the room. After this time was ended, three of the children stood and exited the room, leaving only the youngest. An expression flickered across her face, as if she were about to apologise for doing something wrong, and so the man opened his arms to her, offering an embrace which, though a little hesitantly, she accepted.

"I'm sorry, Daddy." she squeaked, in a much smaller voice than she had used before. Draco shared a quick glance with his mother, who gave him an encouraging smile before she left the room, leaving the two in peace. The Malfoy heir held onto his daughter even tighter than he had done before.

"That's alright, Fifi." he responded, planting a kiss on the golden waves atop her head. "You tried. But we still have a long way to go."

A/N: She tried, but no dice just yet. Please review!


	8. A Helping Hand

Chapter Eight

A/N: No reviewers.

A few days passed, and an atmosphere of secrecy had taken root in the Manor. It did not seem to involve his parents, that much Draco knew for certain, but as for the other four, he could, unfortunately, not say the same. The older three children had been whispering amongst themselves for a while, and even Phoebe had quietened down, almost to the extent of the girl he had met all those months ago, hidden behind her sister's back. Something was being kept from him, something clearly very important for him to know, and the man did not have a clue as to what it was.

At breakfast that morning, the atmosphere was quite different to how it had been at the beginning of their stay, but extremely similar to that of the past few days. The eldest three of the four had stopped openly expressing their hate for their father, in word or in deed, and had instead kept to whispering to themselves, making a show of doing so, in order to remind the man that they knew something that he did not.

In hope of finding an answer for the question he did not dare to ask, the man looked across to the end of the table, where his father sat, and straight ahead, where his mother did. Both of them seemed to have neutral expressions on their faces, but their son knew them well enough to know that they had noticed the odd behaviour of the children, and was uncertain as to whether they were aware of the purpose behind it.

"Alright, what's going on?" he finally questioned the group, unable to stand not knowing any longer, when it was obvious that his children were merely not telling him out of spite, perhaps with the exception of little Phoebe. His voice seemed to reverberate through the dining room, as the room itself was quite lavishly sized, and he winced a little as it did so, cutting through the silence and repeating in the ears of the family. "It's clear that you are all keeping something from me, and I want to know what it is. So?"

For another moment, silence reigned over them all, as each of the six others considered the words that the heir had spoken to them, and the accusations that he had made. His parents were most certainly confused, as they were the only ones in the room who did not, in fact, know of the secret. However, an expression immediately came over the face of the youngest daughter, as it did, quite surprisingly, of the elder one, who also opened her mouth to explain, before a pinch on the arm from Rigel quietened her down, Asterion doing the same for the youngest, who looked to be ready to cry at such harsh treatment, as she had done nothing to warrant it.

"Rigel, Asterion, stop that at once!" Draco all but barked, sending the two boys shrinking back into their seats as he stood from him abruptly, though they had tried to hide that fact, so as not to damage their dignities any further than they already done over the past time they had been residents at the manor, especially as they were second and third in line, respectively, to inherit the place, along with all the assets that went with it, and did not want to risk their father changing that fact, when the time came that he had the power to do so.

However, although they wished to save face, the two young men were not willing to let such a thing go, and so both rose from the table, as they had done the first morning after they had arrived, with the exception of both Capella and Phoebe remaining at the table, when the two of them had left with their brothers on the first occasion.

Seeing the number of glances cast between her son and his own daughters, Narcissa stood from the table, dabbing at the corners of her mouth with a napkin, before beginning to move from the room, stopping in her quest only when she was just behind the chair at the head of the table, where her husband still sat, seemingly oblivious to his wife's tactical move.

"Lucius?" she asked, a slight note of hinting in her voice, one which, unfortunately, the eldest did not seem to pick up on, as he took another bite of his eggs Florentine, not even really looking up.

"Yes, darling?" he questioned in return, his tone obviously showing that he did not have a clue. He remained that way, until his wife heaved a sigh that he had heard many a time before, and only ever when she thought that he was being ignorant in some way.

"Lucius!" she repeated, and on this occasion, the man obeyed immediately following his wife out of the door, leaving their son alone with the two girls.

The moment the young man opened his mouth, when he heard the footsteps of his parents disappear to a distance that they could no longer be heard. However, just as he began to force the words from his throat, he was spoken over by his eldest daughter, who also stood from her chair, Phoebe following her after a second or two, as she had always done what her elder sister did, by way of routine. "We shouldn't leave the boys on their own for too long. They'll get themselves into trouble."

"Of course." Draco responded, trying his best to keep the note of disappointment from his voice, especially as he had hardly had a moment to speak to the girls, and had not managed to get a single word out in their direction before their excuses had been made.

Immediately, the two girls began to move down towards the door, the most direct way of getting to their bedrooms, the corridor where the boys were most likely to be hiding. Phoebe exited quickly, going to find her brothers, but Capella paused, as if she had something to say. She turned to face her father, ensuring that there was no one else in the vicinity, before she spoke.

"It's Phoebe's birthday at the end of the week, the day before we go back to school, and that's what they're trying to hide from you. They think that she'll hate you if you don't know, but I know you want to do your best for her, for all of us. So make sure that you do."

Even after the girl had left, Draco smiled as he realised what had just happened. Ellie was starting to forgive him.

A/N: Please review!


	9. Surprise Celebrations

Chapter Nine

A/N: Thank you to Beth for reviewing the last chapter.

As soon as he had realised the date of his youngest daughter's birthday, Draco had begun to plan for a celebration unlike any she would have seen before. From what Ellie had told him, their mother had not held any proper birthday parties for them, as she had not wanted to attract much attention to them, in case the Malfoys had taken notice and come to find them. Given that they never had done, the heir to that estate imagined that the children had not had a great deal of fun over the years. He could not help but wonder if they would have done with him.

Every evening, after he had returned from work, Draco would retire to his study for far longer than was necessary. Everyone assumed that he was merely working overtime, so as to add a few more Galleons to a collection that most men could only dream of, but in fact, he was organising a celebration that would be remembered for years to come. Little Phoebe had never had a birthday party, after all, and he wanted the first to be something special.

So far, he had purchased over thirty presents for the child, on behalf of the family, and they had not been cheap presents at all, along with decorations for the ballroom, and enough ingredients to make a spectacular birthday cake, which his mother had insisted on making herself. Her son did not really mind about that, as the woman had proved herself more than able to make a beautiful cake for her granddaughter, as she had done many for him over the years, and he had always thought of them as being better than any that money could buy, because of the amount of love she put into them.

The last thing to be done had been the invitations, and that had been the thing that had given Draco most cause for concern. Everyone had responded to the summons, and he was certain that there would be a great deal of people surrounding the girl for her party, a large proportion of them her own age, or only a little older, so that his other children would have some company as well. The only problem had been the written invitation that remained, unsent, in the top drawer of his desk. It was addressed to Lissy.

'_She is too far away.'_ the man had thought, trying to justify his choice in not inviting the mother of his children to their daughter's birthday. It was then that he realised something. '_I don't think I've ever thought of her as being that before. To me, Phoebe was Lissy's daughter for a half hour or two, and after that, she was mine. I've never thought of her as being ours. But she is. They all are, and that is not going to change__.__'_

But when the night of the party finally came, and the secret had remained miraculously so, Draco found that all thoughts of Elisabetta had strayed from his mind, to be replaced only by the look on Phoebe's darling little face as she entered the room full of guests, dressed in the glittering blue fairy gown that her grandmother had given her that morning, though it had in fact been the first of the gifts from her father, who could not have told her this, as it would have given away the secret that he was not supposed to know, not that that mattered much now.

"Happy birthday, Fifi!" the man exclaimed, unable to hide the delighted smile on his face as the girl came running towards him, and bending down, just in time for her to throw her arms around his neck, peppering his cheek with kisses.

"Is this really all for me, Daddy?" the six year old questioned, not seeming to be able to believe that anyone could put on such a glorious celebration only for her.

"Of course it is, sweetheart." her father answered, with a slight chuckle. "Who else would all of this be for?"

"I've never had a party like this before." she told him, though her voice was quiet, as she was still staring awestruck around the ballroom, and the smiling faces of the people stood in it. "In fact, I've never really had a party at all."

"Well, that is why this party is extra special, to make up for five birthday parties that you missed." Draco told his daughter, trying to silence the voice in his head, which was carrying a guilt inducing message. He was not just making up for the birthday parties that she should have had, he was making up for the birthdays that he had not seen, the birthdays that he should have seen. Still, that was all in the past, and all the family could do now was move forward.

Hours passed, and the moon rose in the sky, though the spirit of the party did not die with the day's sunlight. If anything, as the party went on, the celebrations intensified. Phoebe seemed to revel in the stories of the people she met, and she turned many a time to her father, smiling at him in gratitude. It did not escape the man's notice that, once or twice, her sister did the same. '_Perhaps Capella is accepting me, as well.'_

However, as the clock prepared to strike midnight, that entire atmosphere changed, leaving only one of shock and surprise. None felt that surprise more strongly than the Malfoy family, whose eyes were fixated on the open doorway, and the person stood in it, her arms held tightly around a wrapped gift, clutching it as if she were embracing a child.

For a moment, only silence could be heard in the room, bar the heavy breathing of the children, who could not believe that the person had finally arrived, as they had not expected for her to do so. It was a positive thing for them, but for their father, the woman in the doorway represented everything that he had lost, and could very well lose again.

"Lissy."

A/N: So, it's starting to go wrong. Please review!


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